that they would remain in residential use for 25 years. By May 1900, only the lots along Fifth Avenue remained unsold. Residential use Construction Edward Holbrook bought a lot on the south side of 52nd Street, just east of Fifth Avenue, from Worthington Whitehouse in August 1900. That December, Holbrook bought the lot immediately to the east from Lansdale Boardman. A group of developers led by Stewart H. Chisholm bought the southeast corner lot at 52nd Street and Fifth Avenue, measuring , from Flake & Dowling in early 1901. That October, Chisholm's syndicate filed plans for an 18-story apartment hotel, designed by William C. Hazlett, to be built on that site. To the east, Holbrook hired C. P. H. Gilbert to construct a 14-story apartment house adjacent to Chisholm's hotel on the 50-foot lot, along with a private house for Holbrook's use on the 30-foot lot. In March 1902, after the corner site had been excavated, Chisholm sold the site to the New York Realty Corporation. The Real Estate Record and Guide described the sale as "a peculiar transaction, and one which can hardly be called a sale". The corporation was acting on behalf of the Vanderbilt family, which did not want to see a high-rise hotel development opposite their houses. The Vanderbilts sold the northern section of the plot, facing 52nd Street and measuring , to Morton F. Plant. However, they were unable to obtain a buyer for the southern section, which was in the middle of a city block. Holbrook canceled plans to build his apartment hotel in August 1902 after agreeing with the Vanderbilts to restrict their respective lots to private residential development. The following month, when George W. Vanderbilt announced plans for marble townhouses at 645 and 647 Fifth Avenue, the Vanderbilt family was confirmed to be associated with the New York Realty Corporation. Holbrook did build a 5-story residence on the eastern site of the lot at 8 East 52nd Street, but he sold it to Ernest Kempton Adams. Gilbert designed a six-story residence for Holbrook on the western side of his 52nd Street lot, which would have been the site of the apartment hotel. In December 1902, Robert W. Gibson was announced as the architect for Morton Plant's residence. Gibson filed plans for Plant's house with the New York City Department of Buildings in May 1903; the plans called for a five-story limestone house